Facebook’s mission is “to make the world more open and connected,” but it’s actually making us sadder and less satisfied.
University of Michigan study on college-aged adults finds that the more they used Facebook, the worse they felt. The study, published in the journal PLOS One, found Facebook use led to declines in moment-to-moment happiness and overall life satisfaction. "There's a huge amount of interest ... because Facebook is so widespread," says research co-author John Jonides, a University of Michigan cognitive neuroscientist. "With something like half a billion people who use Facebook every day, understanding the consequences of that use on our well being is of critical importance."
Social Sharing Goes Wrong: Regretting The Facebook Post Researchers tested the variables of happiness and satisfaction in real time on 82 participants.The researchers text-messaged them five times a day for two weeks to examine how Facebook use influenced how they felt. Participants responded to questions about loneliness, anxiety and general emotional well-being.
The study authors did not get at the reasons Facebook made their test subjects feel glum. But Jonides suspects it may have to do with social comparison. "When you're on a site like Facebook, you get lots of posts about what people are doing. That sets up social comparison — you maybe feel your life is not as full and rich as those people you see on Facebook," he says. Interestingly, Jonides notes, the study found the effects of Facebook are most pronounced for those who socialize the most "in real life."